Hope it all works out for you. Keep us posted. Link to RR. It is sure to at least define things in - if not clear - your head.

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Cheers!

Definitely planning on posting in RR.

Have been (sometimes with discontent) tied to one place for too long (spent over a decade travelling around the world on my own before house and business), and the ride will remind me that I can indeed get by with "nothing more than a pack and a song."

Circumstances are changing no matter what, and not yet sure which way the wind is blowing, but have needed a self-inflicted kick in the arse to remind myself that I can be happy with very fecking little.

Are you a male??? Find and marry a girl whose parents are wealthy vineyard owners and beer wholesalers. Sponge off her parents. If you are a good looking girl, find some hapless dude whose parents are wealthy vineyard owners and beer wholesalers. Sponge off of his parents.

Problem solved!

Anyway, you can enjoy yourself now thinking you might get hit by a bus load of nuns tomorrow, but then you end up living to be really old and have no money because you lived for the moment every day, so then you will be screwed. OR, you can save up everything you can now, waiting for the moment you have a great stash of cash, and then you retire and head off on your great adventure and as you pull out of your driveway to ride for a year you get hit by a bus load of nuns, Splat.

I believe that living the moment is any day better than waiting for things to fall into place. Im 37, quit my job when I was 30 (I loved my by job but it was getting to be more of a routine, 10 days was all I could take off in a stretch and, I could only dream of long rides.) The next four years were hard, tried various things, wildlife photographer, graphic designer, researcher, voluntary worker... and started my own graphic design firm in 2007. Since 2008 Ive been taking off for at least one whole month at a stretch. And there were numerous day and week end trips. 2009 did a 90 day solo trip to Ladakh (Himalayas), India. 2010 to Kathmandu, Nepal (unfortunately not on a motorcycle). As I am writing this Im preparing for a 10day ride beginning 12 March in Kerala, South India. Being your own boss certainly helps... Having an understanding client helps even more... when your work is good, they don't mind waiting till you got back from the ride. It is another thing that I do not have (at the moment) that many family responsibilities as I am single...I only hope that I find a mate who also loves being on the road, hehehe And I am dreaming of doing a world tour before I pop

At the moment I'm thirty (*sigh*) and getting to my first bigger trip.

i've saved 3 years when i leave for a 4 month trip. Luckily i a great employer who allows me to have 4 months of unpayed leave. And i think it might be easier over here as well the (Netherlands that is), we have law that allows you to save money for unpayed leave of absence.

I'm working as an IT consultant, business is good and they'll be happy to have me back because it's hard to find skilled people. Luck I have is that my manager digs travelling. The first thing he said when i told about my plans was "cool!". If my employer didnt want me to go, i would've quit i guess. My dreams are more important to me than working....

Flexibility in employment is the key to travel regularly I believe, but you aren't going anywhere without money. Teacher, consultant, self employed in the cloud, easily employed everywhere: bartender, English teacher/tutor. Sought after profession that is project oriented: any engineer, software programmer, etc. It ends you travel till next one comes along.... but you still need to save the $$$ to go.

I've managed to travel quite a bit, motoless. Working for an airline helped, becoming unemployed and traveling for over a year, "helped", interest in places languages, cultures and geography motivates... and helps. Being frugal helps. Not spending every dime on crap that we are told we need "helps". Not knocking up your SO when you really don't want a family would also be high on my list of things best not done... and it is avoidable. child support does NOT help.... :huh

I currently work in a cube farm "doing" IT... my odometer rolled over 10 years in January here... but I found an old email from 4 years ago saying I would pull my hair out if I was here another month... oops.

I am in my 40's and bought my first moto last year after wanting one since my teens. The longest trip I have done on the moto was riding to Tybee Island at a cracking distance of 240 miles one way last weekend.... I'm hooked.

Step out if you can, have a long term plan, think about what you want out of life... if you can figure that out, you've gone a long way to sorting some of the bigger things in life out and can then plan it all accordingly... and remember the plan can change..... good luck.

Ever notice it's usually other people who have "patience", not you. The saying usually is "I don't have the patience to do xxxx". Well, the truth is, we somehow find the time to do what we really want to do. Some will focus their lives on doing something, others will work so they can pursue their hobby. The truth is, we all make our own accommodations to whatever priorities we are willing to honor. Nothing wrong with that. But it's not fair to yourself to be upset that others seem to find the time to do what you want to do but you don't find the time. Truth; you will find the time to do what you REALLY want to do. So if you want to ride more, do it. But don't complain that you have a mortgage, kids to educate and a family to feed and that's why you don't have the time to ride. Stop whining and acknowledge the priorities you have chosen. Whatever they are. This is not meant to criticize anyone who has made any choices...but it is a pull on the old leg to get you to recognize that you have already made choices...and can make different ones now. Your option. :huh
By the way, I began riding at the ripe old age of 73. On my 3rd bike. I honestly wasn't interested before. Now I love it and ride whenever I make the opportunity.

I'd second that motion and recomend reading Chris Gillebeau's writing also. He is trying to visit every country in the world in five years. http://chrisguillebeau.com/3x5/

Tim Ferris also has a lot of neat ideas.

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Thanks for that one.

The quality of your life truly is a product of your choices. We all have different levels of cash and income, but we all have the same amount of time. In that regard we are all equally wealthy. Now, how you choose to "spend " that wealth is another matter.......

Someone once told me the reason time seems to go by faster as you age. When you were 4 years old, and became 5, it took 20 percent of your life for that one year to pass. When you are fifty, that year blinks by....because now it is only 2% .........

I turn 57 next week and am in a job that gets worse by the day. As I consider the shortness of life and my degrading health, I am seriously thinking of hitting the road. To tell you the truth, it would probably be good for my health, not to mention my mental health, just because I won't spend everyday in front of this computer. One of my life dreams, maybe the only one, is to spend an entire riding season checking out the North American continent. Don't really have much desire to get south of Mexico as the conditions probably won't suit me. I can continue to put money into my 401(k) while I grow older and less likely to ever take my dream trip or do it, and if I need to get a job when I come back, hope that will happen but be prepared to live sparsely for the rest of my life if it doesn't. I think it might be worth it. What say you?

"Visiting the Americas, how to handle time, work, career?" is the title.

You gotta decide for yourself, but generally you can work yourself to death and make money, or start enjoying your life with tons of time and less bucks. I chose the latter and left at 55. Am now collecting retirement checks and S.S. will start in two years.

Ain't rich, but I'm rich in spirit and I don't punch NOBODYs clock. Ain't had this much fun since the 60's. You're gonna die regardless, and you can't take the money with you when you go.

i'll be 58 in 2 weeks. I have been eligible to retire for over a year but plan to retire at 62. i started my adventures in life early. summer of my junior year incollege, i went to Switzerland and washed dishes in a hotel for 2 months and did a bit of traveling while there. bad economy and such offered me a NAVY career that i started at 22. the navy taught me and trained me, and gave me many an adventure, on of which was my participation in the MISS UNIVERSE PAGENT in 1980. I or (we) escorted the girls across the stage on live TV. Other interesting thing was riding a horse across the desert to the pyramids, snow skii'ng in Sicili, camping out in Alaska in zero degrees...those are just a few of the mmemories the navy left with me in addition to the many ports i visited. even though i did not do 20 in the navy, i did stay in the reserves for the required time and i will start my retirement in a couple more years. But i did pay a priice as we all do..there are no free rides! i'm just hoping my health will hold out until 62 so i can take that really long trip i'm planning on my bike. I take two trips a year now on the bike of 10 days each by myself and another trip where the wife and i load the bike on the trailer and go camping for a week. my only regret is that my wife will not be taking my long trip with me.

This has been a very interesting thread for me, and I really appreciate all that folks have had to say so far. I'm 24 right now, and working a job that is so boring, it pains me to get on with it each day. I moved clear across Canada for this job, to a city with no soul, and a place where I don't know anybody. I am as ready for a change as a person could ever be, to be honest.

The only thing that is holding me back is money; I'm not really concerned about what a big trip would do to my career and I don't have any personal relationships that are going to suffer from a long stint on the road. I desperately want to hit the road, but I want to do it the proper way. To me, it's not worth it to go for two weeks, two month, or even two years. My dream is to travel clear across the globe. The trip would be of indefinite length, only limited by the time it would take me to get to every country in the world.

I'd love to hear some tips on how people have made long term trips work. I'm not above pausing the trip for periods to make a bit of cash to keep going. I'm also very interested in becoming some type of travel writer to help keep the gas money coming. I'd love to hear from people who have done something similar, and find out how they made the money situation work. What sort of budgeting strategies did you use to get started? And then, if you found a way to have the travel pay for its self, how did you go about that?

It's my dream, and I realize it might even be a bit "pie in the sky", but I'm serious about pursuing it and would love to hear from those who've chased after something simliar.

This thread hits home for us 'cause we're all cowboys at heart. I'm 56 and putting things in place for similar reasons. How I pay for it??? First I have two rentals bringing in 1400 a month clear, I worked 25 years to acheive that. My ex is got the others and is trying for these. So no guarantees- I could still lose it all. I decided to start living in a rv as a base camp. 1 year now or two? I have no retirement, wasn't offered at work, and ex appropiated all our savings, again years of work with no reward. I did get about 40% of assets so I do have value there. Start traveling now?? Big yes in my boat! How do I pay for health insurance?? the major unknown, I can always get a low-end short time job to supplement rental income. But not health care. At this point I looking at being non-insured till Obama catches me!

Here's one way to do it, so let me ask you all. There's a guy who's been riding the world and posting pics and stories about his experience here on this site. He's been on the road with his SO for a very very long time and had run out of money. So he asked for money from those who were following his thread in order to extend his several year vacation.

I posted my opinion that if he had run out of money, maybe it would be best to earn some more money before extending his vacation any further. Imo it's a bit low class to ask for money just so you can extend your adventure. For posting my opinion I got banned for a while. I wasn't trying to start anything but I get tired of people trying to suck off of others so they don't have to work.

So how do you all feel about those asking for money on this site for nothing but personal gain?

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Since nobody else has addressed this question - I'll take a stab at it.

First, the couple had a decision to make - either go home since their money was running out, or continue the trip to someplace new if there was sufficient support from "out there" to enable them to continue providing their audience with the fabulous pictures and writing that they've become known for.

As someone who's been following their trip, and greatly enjoyed the perspective it gave me, I was more than happy to send them a couple tank-fuls of money to keep them on the road writing up their reports and sharing pictures of where they've been. This enabled me to see and 'experience' places that chances are I'll never get to. And there was enough support from other people that they were able to continue doing what we've been enjoying for so long.

Second - anyone that says taking and posting pics and reports is 'not work' has never tried to doing it before. It takes a lot of time to take and process pictures, write up the accompanying text, and then potentially fight with an erratic internet connection to get it out to the rest of the world.

I've done the trips, taken the pics, and written the reports - I figure for every 3 days of travel I have to spend a full day processing what I'd seen & experienced, putting it all together, and posting it. I've read from other LD riders that sometimes they'll lock themselves into a room for days at a time in order to catch up with their material and get their reports up to date.

You may be interested to read that that's what "travel writer"s do - it's a legit occupation that people can get paid to do. Do they get something out of it? Certainly - just like any other person who trades labor for income. Is it "nothing but personal gain"? No more than any other trade of information for income - they're getting paid for doing something they enjoy - and there's nothing wrong with that.

I've been very lucky to have travel in my vocabulary since 7 yo. I chose to take off the last 4 years to take care of my ailing dad, which I would do again in a heartbeat!!! He has since passed, not mentioning this for sympathy, just fact. I haven't traveled during that time and boy am I jones'ing for travel again, Big Time!!

Both parents traveled, and introduced me into the family before they adopted me at age 9. I have had the luxury to live with traveling as part of who I am since about as long as I can remember. Sometimes short excursions, sometimes longer ones. My motto has always been to work to be able to travel. Which to be honest, has yielded only three jobs that has lasted over 1 year, the longest being 1y 9m. If memory serves me correctly, I think I've been on holiday for longer than I've worked in my life. I'm nearly 40 now, lol, have to laugh at that, especially when I hear one of my friends gripe about not having time to do the things they like. It's all about choices!!

I have no significant other, I've been in school off and on now, but now I'm not happy with it, but will, in the future go back to. I have traveled internationally and every time have been able to rent bikes. I feel it's time to change that and ride to where I want. I have money for at least 4-8 months south of us, but am seriously contemplating selling the whole lot for the dream of dreams, at least for me, an RTW trip. The thought of living on some property in a yurt, when I come back, is extremely enticing to me. My departure date is scheduled for 1st May 2011, but may have to come back end of summer to sell the house, etc... I've never been the traditionalist, so it suites me well, and I came across a quote not long ago that sums up a newer attitude and thought process with me:

"He who is richer is Not who has more. But who needs less."
Zapotec saying; Oaxaca, Mexico

So, in short, keep tuned in for another ride report. I just hope I can give it justice. I have much to learn about posting up and photo/video logs. Might have a dedicated blog or website, still up in the air about that though. Any advice is appreciated and thanks in advance.